In warfare, a theater or theatre is normally used to define a specific geographic area within which armed conflict occurs. A war would have to occur over a large portion of the globe in order to be considered large enough to have separate theaters, and the term is not used in the singular. Typically, each theater would be distinct and separate from other theaters. Very often, the delineation occurs along continental boundaries or in separate oceans. Typically, in order to be considered multiple theaters in a single conflict, at least one of the nations involved must be participating in multiple theaters; without this, each area is considered a separate war. This is a partial list of battles that have entries in Wikipedia. ... . ... This is a list of missions, operations, and projects. ... The 1453 Siege of Constantinople (painted 1499) A siege is a prolonged military assault and blockade on a city or fortress with the intent of conquering by force or attrition. ... See also list of military writers. ... This is a list of lists of wars, sorted by country, date, region, and type of conflict. ... This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it. ... There are a bewildering array of weapons, far more than would be useful in list form. ... This is a list of military writers, alphabetical by last name. ... For other uses of War, see War (disambiguation). ... Continental may refer to: The adjective of continent, such as in continental Europe, continental breakfast, or continental climate, or Continental Glacier; The culture of the continental nation states of Europe, inasmuch as it contrasts with the culture of Anglo-Saxon England; The Lincoln Continental, a car made by Lincoln division... Animated map exhibiting the worlds oceanic waters. ...

The best (but not first) example of a war with several large and distinct theaters is World War II. This war had at least three separate theaters: European, Pacific, and African, though the last is considered by some military historians to be an adjunct of the European Theater. The Eastern Front may be considered separate from the West European Theater by some. Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... German Führer Adolf Hitler Preceding events (See also Events preceding World War II in Europe and Causes of World War II.) Germany was in debt after World War I, due to the Great Depression and the forced payments to the victors of World War I. Germans wanted a leader... Combatants China (from 1937) United States (1941) U.K. (1941) Australia (from 1941) Free France (1941) Netherlands (1941) New Zealand (1941) Canada (1941) Soviet Union (1945) Japan (from 1937)  Germany (1941) Thailand (from 1942) Manchukuo Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Franklin D. Roosevelt Winston Churchill John Curtin Fumimaro Konoe Hideki Tojo... During World War II, the North African Campaign, also known as the Desert War, took place in the North African desert from September 13, 1940 to May 13, 1943. ... Combatants Soviet Union,[1] Poland, Tannu Tuva (until 1944 incorporation with USSR), Mongolia Germany,[2] Italy (to 1943), Romania (to 1944), Finland (to 1944), Hungary, Slovakia, Croatia, Spain (to 1943, unofficial) Commanders Joseph Stalin, Aleksei Antonov, Ivan Konev, Rodion Malinovsky, Ivan Bagramyan, Kirill Meretskov, Ivan Petrov, Alexander Rodimtsev, Konstantin Rokossovsky... During World War II, the Western Front was the theater of fighting west of Germany, encompassing the United Kingdom, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Denmark. ...

Theater of war

The term seems to have been coined by Clausewitz in his book "On War"^[1]. Specifically in his book he defines the term thus: "This term denotes properly such a portion of the space over which war prevails as has its boundaries protected, and thus possesses a kind of independence. This protection may consist in fortresses, or important natural obstacles presented by the country, or even in its being separated by a considerable distance from the rest of the space embraced in the war.—Such a portion is not a mere piece of the whole, but a small whole complete in itself; and consequently it is more or less in such a condition that changes which take place at other points in the seat of war have only an indirect and no direct influence upon it. To give an adequate idea of this, we may suppose that on this portion an advance is made, whilst in another quarter a retreat is taking place, or that upon the one an army is acting defensively, whilst an offensive is being carried on upon the other. Such a clearly defined idea as this is not capable of universal application; it is here used merely to indicate the line of distinction." Carl Phillip Gottlieb von Clausewitz (June 1, 1780 _ November 16, 1831) was a Prussian military thinker. ...

Theater of operations

Chart 12.- Typical organization of a theater of operations as envisaged by War Department Doctrine, 1940

An American theater of operations was an administrative term for a theater which had both an operational and an administrative command. For example, in the European Theater of Operations, U.S. forces were under the joint allied operation command of Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF) and the administrative command of the "European Theater of Operations, United States Army" (ETOUSA); but in the China Burma India Theater, American forces only had an administrative command as the operational command of ground troops was (theoretically) through the British 11th Army Group which reported to the joint allied command Southeast Asia Command (SEAC). Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (650x806, 24 KB)US World War II Theater of operations This image is a work of a U.S. military or Department of Defense employee, taken or made during the course of an employees official duties. ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (650x806, 24 KB)US World War II Theater of operations This image is a work of a U.S. military or Department of Defense employee, taken or made during the course of an employees official duties. ... The European Theater of Operations, or ETO, was the term used by the United States in World War II to refer to most United States military activity in Europe north of the Mediterranean coast. ... Badge of SHAEF Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (abbreviated as SHAEF, pronounced shāf), was the headquarters of the Commander of Allied forces in north west Europe, from late 1943 until the end of World War II. General Dwight Eisenhower was in command of SHAEF throughout its existence. ... China Burma India Theater (CBI) was the name used by the United States Army for its forces in China, Burma, India during World War II. Well-known US units in this theater included the Flying Tigers, transport and bomber units flying the Hump, the engineers who built Ledo Road, and... The British 11th Army Group was the main British Army force in Southeast Asia. ... South East Asia Command (SEAC) was the body set up to be in overall charge of Allied operations in the South-East Asian Theatre during World War II. // Background The initial supreme commander of the theatre was General Sir Archibald Wavell, initially as head of the American-British-Dutch-Australian...

The term "theater of operations" was defined in the [American] field manuals as the land and sea areas to be invaded or defended, including areas necessary for administrative activities incident to the military operations (chart 12). In accordance with the experience of World War I, it was usually conceived of as a large land mass over which continuous operations would take place and was divided into two chief areas-the combat zone, or the area of active fighting, and the communications zone, or area required for administration of the theater. As the armies advanced, both these zones and the areas into which they were divided would shift forward to new geographic areas of control^[2].

See also

• Battlespace

Battlespace is the military theatre of operations, including air, ground, information, sea and space. ...

Further reading

• Theatre of Operations in Information Operations

The armed forces of a state are its government sponsored defense and fighting forces and organizations used to further the objectives of the state. ... A fireteam is a small military unit of infantry. ... In the fire service a Squad is a Engine Company with a compliment of rescue tools. ... The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view. ... Platoon of the German Bundeswehr. ... Standard NATO code for a friendly infantry company. ... Remains of a battery of English cannon from Youghal, County Cork. ... Symbol of the Austrian 14th Armoured Battalion in NATO military graphic symbols A battalion is a military unit usually consisting of between two and six companies and typically commanded by a Lieutenant Colonel. ... A Squadron is a small unit or formation of cavalry, aircraft (including balloons), or naval vessels. ... British regiment A regiment is a military unit, consisting of a variable number of battalions - commanded by a colonel. ... In military science a brigade is a military unit that is part of a division and includes regiments (where that level exists), or (in modern armies) is composed of several battalions (typically two to four) and directly attached supporting units. ... Symbol of the Polish 1st Legions Infantry Division in NATO code A division is a large military unit or formation usually consisting of around ten to twenty thousand soldiers. ... A corps (plural same as singular; a word that migrated from the French language, pronounced IPA: (cor), but originating in the Latin corpus, corporis meaning body) is either a large military unit or formation, an administrative grouping of troops within an army with a common function (such as artillery or... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... An army group is a military organization (formation) consisting of several armies, and is supposed to be self-sufficient for indefinite periods. ... Look up Region in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

References

1. ^ Carl Von Clausewitz, On War
2. ^ Chapter VII: Prewar Army Doctrine for Theater